Elevator door construction



June 25, 1968 HALPERN ELEVATOR DOOR CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 4, 1966 R m 9 5 O m m 11:2 mm A |K|111111 111i A// l l 1 lllll l I l U m a iillilillll UK NN ERNST HALPERN ATTORNEYS United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An elevator door construction that has support means adjacent an elevator shaft and a door frame mounted on the support means that provides an entrance into an elevator in the shaft. An elevator door of hollow metal construction is mounted on the support means and is movable into an open and closed position relative to the door frame. Advantageously the door has a wing thereon disposed along the vertical edge of the door positioned adjacent the entrance when the door is in the open position. The wing extends toward the elevator to conceal the clearance space between the elevator and the door. The wing has a leg extending generally perpendicular from the plane of the door and has a lip portion. The leg has a lip portion with its free end extending away from the entrance. Advantageously a reinforcing member is provided that extends between the door and the wing. The reinforcing member has a portion extending in a direction perpendicular to the leg and disposed adjacent the side of the leg opposite to the entrance.

This invention relates to an elevator door construction and particularly to an elevator door provided with new and novel means for concealing the unsightly interior of the elevator shaft.

Heretofore, elevator doors have at times been provided with means to conceal the clearance space between the elevator car entrance and the shaft. However, said means have been of complex and expensive construction. In fact, the means to conceal said clearance space were made separately and thereafter were attached to the door with the consequent difficulties in construction and assemblage. Furthermore, the means for concealing the clearance space was not applicable to all the various types of doors employed in conjunction with shafts and elevators. In addition, the means heretofore provided were unattractive and unpleasant in appearance since they were not an integral part of the door and were prepared at different times.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an elevator door construction with means for concealing the clearance space between the elevator and the shaft.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide concealing means of integral construction with the doors, and of simple welded sheet metal construction.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide concealing means which are applicable to virtually all of the elevator doors commonly known in the art without regard to the manner in which its doors open and close.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an integral non-vision device which acts to prevent any tampering with the electromechanical operating and clutching devices.

It is a feature of the present invention that concealing means are provided in the form of a non-vision wing which is attractive and creates the impression that the elevator door itself extends into the aforesaid clearance space.

Dther objects and advantages of the present invention appear in greater detail in the following description and specification taken in conjunction with the drawings in which- FIGURE 1 is a top view in cross section showing the non-vision wing in relation to two-speed elevator doors.

FIGURE 2 is a top view in cross section showing the non-vision wing when applied to single-speed elevator doors.

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional top view showing the non-vision wing with reference to center-opening elevator doors.

FIGURE 4 shows the constructional details of the non-vision wing.

FIGURE 5 shows the construction of the non-vision wing with special reinforcing means.

FIGURE 6 shows an embodiment of the non-vision wing applicable specifically to center-opening doors.

In the form of the invention illustrated in FIG. 1 a nonvision wing is provided in conjunction with a twospeed door system shown in FIGURE 1. The building walls 10 support a finished exterior surface 11 on the opposite side of the elevator car. The entrance to the elevator shaft 12 includes a floor sill and a door frame 14. Struts 15 serve as the frame structure for supporting the two-speed shaft entrance doors 16 and 17. Each door of a two-speed door system travels at a different speed from the other during their opening and closing movements. The relationship of travel between the doors may be seen by referring to their positions when in the Open and closed relation. Thus when the entrance to the shaft is fully open, doors 16 and 17 occupy positions 16a and 17a respectively as shown by the dash lines. Accordingly, door 17 must move at least one door width in order to open the entrance to the elevator shaft, and occupy position 17a. Door 16, on the other hand, must travel at least two door widths to occupy the corresponding open position of 16a. When in the closed position doors 16 and 17 overlap one another as shown in FIGURE 1. A header above the doors is provided which, in conjunction with struts 15 supports door 16 and 17 and their associated hardware.

The exterior surface of the elevator car is shown by the phantom line 19. The car doors 20 and 21 correspond to the shaft entrance doors 16 and 17. The position of the car doors when in the open state, are represented 'by the numbers 20a and 210 respectively.

In order to prevent jamming of a moving car an adequate amount of clearance space 22 must be provided between the elevator and the shaft entrance doors 16 and 17. In addition, adequate space must also be provided for the movement and positions of the car doors 20 and 21. Accordingly, a person entering an elevator under normal circumstances, would be' easily able to look into the unsightly interior of the elevator shaft. To prevent this unpleasant view and make attractive the appearance of the elevator construction according to the present invention, a non-vision wing 23 is fixed to the door 16. This wing completely conceals the clearance space so as to eliminate the undesirable view. Although a minimum amount of clearance space is required between the wing and the moving elevator car, the amount of light transmissible through such clearance space is not sufficient to allow a person to see into the elevator shaft when entering the car. When the entrance doors are closed, wing 23 becomes seated in a recess 24 corresponding to an extension of frame 14.

FIGURE 2 illustrates a construction in which only a single door 26 is used to open and close the shaft entrance and only a single elevator car door 27 is provided. All other elements and their relationship are equivalent to those in FIGURE 1. Therefore, in accordance with this invention, a wing 25 is also provided to conceal the unpleasant view of the shaft interior when the doors are in the open position denoted by numbers 26a and 27a respectvely.

FIGURE 3 shows a further variation in opening and closing the shaft entrance and the elevator car doors. In this configuration two doors 28 and 29 are used to open and close the shaft entrance, however, they move in opposite directions with respect to one another, and occupy positions 28a and 29a when in the open position. In a similar fashion, two doors 30 and 31 are employed to open and close the elevator car. This particular type of arrangement is often referred to as center opening doors. The problem prevailing with respect to the sight of the shaft interior when a person enters or leaves the elevator, as described for FIGURES 1 and 2, also applies to the door arrangement illustrated in FIGURE 3. The wings 32 and 33 of the present invention are, therefore, utilized with doors 28 and 29 respectively, so as to hide the unsightly view of the shaft interior. Two separate wings are required for the construction of FIGURE 3 because the doors travel in opposite directions and, when open, are located in opposite positions leaving openings into the shaft at both sides.

The details of the wing construction illustrated in FIG- URES 1 and 2, are shown in FIGURE 4. Walls 34 and 35 are provided for the doors. The wing section 36 of these doors is formed by bending wall 35 at right angle, and terminating in a lip 37 through an additional bending at right angle. Through this construction wall 35 and wing section 36 are of a continuous surface. This has the special advantage that, when looking at the wing while entering or leaving the elevator, the impression is created that the door has the thickness of the full width of the wing.

The wing itself is constructed in a simple, inexpensive manner by a series of bending and welding operations. Wall 34 of the door panel is :bent to form the angle leg 38. Its thickness corresponds to the thickness of the door. Channels 39 and 40 are combined to provide vertical stiffeners six inches on center and to reinforce the door along its length and to permit hollow metal construction. Without the wing provision, the door construction would ordinarily be completed when wall 35 has been bent at right angle and surface 36 extends the thickness of the door only. With the inclusion of the wing, however, the leg 36 is extended to the full width of the wing, and is terminated in an additional bent 37. The wing is reinforced by the channel 41 situated between wall 34 and the lip 37. The channel is fixed to wall 34 by means of weld 43, and to lip 37 by means of weld 42. The channel 41 extends for the entire length of the door.

Additional reinforcement of the wing may be obtained through the embodiment of FIGURE 5. This construction is especially useful for doors that are unusually long and require extra support. A reinforcing steel plate 45 is situated between legs 38 and 36, and extends for the full length of the door. The wing includes another leg 44 generated by bending side 37 at right angle. Leg 44 is secured to wall 34 by weld 46. All other elements in FIGURE correspond to those heretofore described in connection with the description of FIGURE 4.

The wing construction for the door configuration of FIGURE 3, is shown in FIGURE 6. In this embodiment, the door edges are lined with resilient shock-absorbing material 47 to protect these edges when the doors come together upon closing. The resilient material 47 is held within ducts 49 at the edges of the doors. Angles 48 bear against the resilient material and are fixed to the doors by the extension 50 of the duct, at the shaft side of the doors. Angles 48 are fastened to extensions 50 by means of spot welds 51. When the doors are in their open positions, angles 48 hide the view into the interior of the shaft. Side 53 of angle 48 is seen when the doors are open, and accordingly, the impression is obtained that the thickness of the door corresponds to the width of the angle leg seen from that side.

There is thus provided by the present invention a simple, inexpensive and attractive means for concealing the unsightly interior of the elevator shaft and prevent tampering with the elevator hardware equipment.

While this invention has been described in some detail, it will be understood that the means described are merely illustrative and that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An elevator door construction comprising support means adjacent an elevator shaft, a door frame mounted on said support means providing an entrance into an elevator in the shaft, an elevator door of hollow metal construction mounted on said support means and movable into an open and closed position relative to said door frame, said door having a wing thereon disposed along the vertical edge of said door positioned adjacent said entrance when said door is in the open position, said Wing extending toward the elevator to conceal the clearance space between the elevator and said door, said wing having a leg extending generally perpendicular from the plane of said door, and said leg having a lip portion at its free end extending away from the entrance, and a reinforcing member extending between said door and said lip, said reinforcing member having a portion extending in a direction perpendicular to said leg and disposed adjacent the side of said leg opposite to the entrance.

2. The elevator door construction of claim 1 wherein said reinforcing member is a channel shaped support welded to said lip on one end and to said door on its opposite end.

3. The elevator door construction of claim 1 wherein said wing is integrally formed by a portion of said hollow door bent at right angles for said leg and said lip, and wherein said reinforcing member is integrally formed by said portion of said hollow door further bent at a right angle to said lip portion and extending to engage said door.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,828,065 10/1931 Palm 187-5l 3,231,048 1/1966 Mitchell 187-51 FOREIGN PATENTS 656,829 1/ 1963 Canada.

KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner. 

